


Inventions

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 03:38:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13755516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: “What, now? I kiss her now?”“Kazran, trust me. It's this or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes.”- A Christmas CarolIn which the Doctor uses his screwdriver as an excuse to run away from his feelings.





	Inventions

“What’re ye doing?”

Startled, the Doctor squeaked and ducked away from Jamie’s hold on his shoulders. “Jamie!” he exclaimed, flustered. “Ah – nothing, really. Just tidying up some things.”

“Oh, aye.”

“Calibrating, you know.”

“Mmhm.”

Jamie was giving him that smile, the Doctor thought despairingly. The one that seemed to promise that he was the most fascinating person in the room, the brightest source of light. The one he did not let himself think about late at night, when darkness and silence made him hope for things he could never have. He could not afford to be distracted by such thoughts now. “And I’m really quite busy.”

“Oh.” Jamie drew back, the smile falling from his face, and the Doctor felt a twinge of regret. “Aye, alright. It’s just that – Ben and Polly are busy, so I thought I’d find you. But if I’m interrupting ye...” He started to edge towards the door, looking a little ashamed.

“Don’t go!” The Doctor blurted out the words before he could stop himself. Jamie turned back towards him, alarmed by the forcefulness of it, and he tried to smile calmly. “I’m, ah… not opposed to company. You’re welcome to stay here.”

Jamie was smiling at him again, and his hearts beat a little faster. “Aye, alright. I’ll stay.”

“Splendid.” The Doctor looked down at his work again, trying to wrench his mind back into gear. Jamie was leaning on the edge of the console, watching him over the central column. “Now, which wire was which?” Taking a wild guess, he twisted two of them together. “So far, so good.” An easier way of bonding connections, that was what he needed. His fingers were beginning to ache. Spurred on by his luck and unwillingness to look back up at Jamie, he poked at one of the other wires, only to find that it was red hot. He leapt away, yelping, and scowled up at Jamie’s grinning face. “Oh, hush, Jamie.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were laughing at me.”

“I wasn’t.” Jamie held his hands up, his smile gone. “Honest. Here, I’ll get ye some cold water.”

Deciding that his dignity was in tatters anyway, the Doctor raised his stinging finger to his mouth. “Please,” he mumbled.

To his surprise, Jamie returned with not only a bowl of water, but a brightly-coloured bandaid. “Polly gave me one when I touched that lightbulb,” he said. “I figured they help.”

“Ah – thank you, Jamie, it does help.” Their fingers brushed together as the Doctor took the bowl from him. It trembled in his grip, and he set it down hastily, balancing it between buttons on the console and immersing his burnt hand in the water. He studied the bandaid, avoiding Jamie’s tender, concerned gaze. The pictures seemed vaguely familiar – some Earth children’s show, no doubt. Perhaps Susan had picked up a pack of them, many years ago.

“Are ye alright?” Jamie asked.

“Quite alright, thank you.” The Doctor turned his head away, watching his hand as he removed it from the water. “I – ah – I think I can put the bandaid on now.”

He held his hand out, expecting to be given the bandaid. Instead, Jamie stepped closer to take his hurt hand and bandage his finger himself. When he looked up at the Doctor’s face, his expression was heavy with concern. “Does it hurt?”

“Ah.” The Doctor found himself unable to focus on anything beyond Jamie’s sudden proximity. The shock of it had driven all thoughts of pain out of his mind. “No.” He was unsure whether his heart was pounding with anticipation or anxiety – whether he wanted to lean in and kiss Jamie, or run out of the room. The same struggle seemed to be written on Jamie’s face.

“Doctor, I -”

He knew what Jamie was about to say, but understood with equal clarity that he was not yet ready to hear it. “Screwdriver!” he exclaimed, springing away from Jamie.

“Eh?”

“That’s what I need to bond the wires -” He darted towards the door, leaving Jamie surprised and disappointed in his wake. “I must write this down.”

* * *

The door of the Doctor’s study creaked open behind him, but he did not look up. He already knew who it was. “Hello, Jamie.”

“Hello.” Jamie paused, hesitating in the doorway.

“You can come in, you know.”

Smiling a little bashfully, Jamie stepped further inside. “I just came to tell ye that dinner’s ready. Polly sent me,” he added, as if to emphasise that he had not come to disturb the Doctor of his own accord.

“Oh.” The Doctor looked down at his desk a little regretfully. He had just fallen into a pleasant, thoughtful concentration, and he was loath to leave it. Still, he thought, it had already been broken by Jamie’s arrival. He might as well join the others for dinner. “Oh, very well.”

“What’ve ye been doing in here?” Jamie wandered over to peer at the mess of components on his desk. “I’ve hardly seen ye for weeks.” He frowned. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d been avoiding me.”

“Avoiding you?” The Doctor tried to laugh it off, painfully aware of how stilted he sounded. “No, no, of course not, Jamie. Why would I be avoiding you?” Inwardly, he was cursing himself. He had thought he was being subtle.

Jamie shrugged, staring down at the floor and shuffling his feet. “I thought maybe I scared ye off. That day in the console room. That’s when it all seemed to start.”

“Oh.” Something in the Doctor’s stomach twisted into a painful knot. He could not run from this anymore. “No, no, I’ve just been busy.” He held up the screwdriver, his smile strained. “I’ve been making this, it’s a...” His voice trailed away as he registered what Jamie had said. “Scared me off?”

“Aye.” Jamie looked _guilty_ , he realised. “I thought – well, I thought ye must’ve figured out what I was going tae say to ye.”

“What were you going to say to me?” Deep down, the Doctor knew. He had always known, but he still did not dare to believe it.

Jamie glared at him. “Ye know what it was, Doctor.”

“I need to hear you say it.” The Doctor stood up to face him, assuming his most pleading expression. “Just to be sure.”

Jamie sighed. He thought he was being made fun of, the Doctor realised. “I thought you’d figured out that I’m in love with ye.” Hearing Jamie say it was terrifying and exhilarating and breathtaking all at once, and the Doctor remained quiet for just a moment too long, processing it. “I’m sorry, I never meant to -”

“It’s alright,” the Doctor said, at a loss for something to say. He knew precisely which words he needed, but they seemed to be stuck in his throat.

“I won’t bring it up again -”

“Jamie!” Jamie quietened, looking sheepish. Despite himself, the Doctor laughed, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. “It’s quite alright,” he repeated. _Just say it_ , he told himself. _You’ve made it bad enough for him as it is_. “I’m in love with you too.” The words spilled out of him with surprising ease.

Jamie simply stared at him for a moment, letting his words sink in. “Oh.”

“Oh,” the Doctor echoed, smiling tentatively.

“’Spose that’s alright, then.”

The Doctor laughed. “Only alright?”

“More than alright.” Jamie clenched and unclenched his fists, seeming unsure of what to do with his hands, then reached out to take the Doctor by the waist. “Can I kiss ye?”

“Oh, ah -” Once again, the Doctor struggled to pull the necessary words out of his mind. His grip on the screwdriver faltered, and it fell from his hand. Distantly, he heard it roll across the desk and tumble into the open drawer behind him. “Certainly.”

Jamie backed him against the desk gently, pushing the drawer shut, and kissed him.

* * *

“Jamie!” The Doctor rifled through his cupboards intently. “ _Jamie_!”

“Aye, I’m here.” Jamie hurried into the Doctor’s study. “Victoria says ye didnae leave it in the console room.” He skidded to a halt, watching the Doctor search through drawers and boxes. “Ye didn’t even tell me what you’re looking for.”

“My recorder.” Tossing the contents of a box onto the floor, the Doctor rustled through papers and sweet wrappers and loose, pearly buttons. “I can’t remember where I put it.” Abandoning the cupboards, he turned to his desk. “It was in here, but I seem to remember taking it out.” Something vaguely recorder-shaped was concealed beneath a pile of wires and metal scraps, and he pulled it out. “Oh, here it is.”

“That’s no’ it,” Jamie said, laughing and taking it from him. “That’s – erm… I’m no’ really sure _what_ it is.”

“It’s my sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor said.

“Oh.” Jamie had seen him use screwdrivers before, but none of them had looked like this, smooth and short and with a little blinking light at one end. He turned it over in his hands. “How are ye meant to drive a screw with that?”

“That’s where the sonic part comes in,” the Doctor explained. “It uses sound waves to -”

“Aye, aye, alright. It’s a magic wee screwdriver.”

“I was making it the day you kissed me for the first time, do you remember?” Jamie nodded. “Goodness, that was months ago now. Before Victoria joined us. I’d quite forgotten I’d made it.”

“So ye haven’t used it yet?”

“No, not outside of a few tests. It’s essentially functional, of course, but there are a few additions I’d like to make.” He tucked the screwdriver into his jacket pocket, patting it. “I’ll keep it in here, just in case it comes in handy. Now, my recorder...” His brow furrowed. “Didn’t I give it to you?”

“Aye, and I put it back in your pocket afterwards,” Jamie said. “Here.” He reached into the Doctor’s trouser pocket and pulled it out, handing it to him. “It was in there the whole time.”

“Ah!” The Doctor beamed. “Thank you, Jamie.” Tucking the recorder into his coat pocket alongside the screwdriver, he pulled Jamie into his arms. “Kiss me?”

Jamie kissed him happily, laughing. “Just so long as ye don’t run off tae fiddle with your screwdriver again.”

The Doctor laughed with him. “I'd much rather kiss you.”

* * *

It was the screwdriver again, surely. Jamie would have put money on it, if he had any. Lately, whenever he wanted the Doctor’s attention for something important, he always seemed to be distracted by his screwdriver. It would have been irritating if Jamie had not found the Doctor’s quirks so endearing. Now he had vanished into his study again, and just when Jamie had worked up the courage to…

“You can do it,” he murmured to himself. “It’s just taking him outside an’ saying four words. How hard can it be?” Hard enough to have taken him three tries, he thought. Squaring his shoulders, he raised his hand to knock on the door.

“I know you’re out there, Jamie,” came the Doctor’s voice. Jamie sighed, grinning to himself, and pushed the door open. “You don’t need to knock, you know.”

“Ye might’ve been busy,” Jamie pointed out.

“Oh, I am. But that doesn’t mean you’re not welcome to interrupt me.” The Doctor swivelled his chair around, holding out his arms to Jamie. “Here, let me show you this.”

“Och, alright. If you’re quick.”

“What’s the hurry?”

Jamie shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Victoria told me it’s a nice night outside. I thought maybe we could have a walk.”

“Yes, that sounds lovely.” The Doctor’s attention had already been pulled back towards the screwdriver. Resigning himself to a long lecture, Jamie settled down in his lap, wrapping his arm around the Doctor’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to his temple. “So you see, I’ve added in the ability to _unscrew_ screws, as well as push them in...”

Jamie half-listened to the Doctor’s speech, taking care to make interested noises when he paused for breath, but his mind was fixated on the prospect of taking the Doctor out for a walk. His hand drifted down into his sporran, and he touched the ring box as if for luck. He’d need it, he thought, as grimly as if he were about to head into battle.

“- and of course, that makes the switch able to set it to different frequencies,” the Doctor finished. He patted Jamie’s cheek as if to wake him up. “You’re not really listening, are you, Jamie?”

“Course I am!” Jamie protested, a touch too loudly. “Ye were saying that… that…” He grinned sheepishly down at the Doctor. “Aye, alright, I didnae really get it all. But I like listening to ye talk.”

“It doesn’t matter much. I must say, my heart isn’t really in this either.” The Doctor pushed Jamie off his lap gently, putting the screwdriver back in his pocket and standing up. He slipped his hand into his pocket, then removed it, twisting his fingers together nervously. “Shall we head outside?”

“Aye, if ye like.” Jamie linked his arm through the Doctor’s. “Victoria said there’s a lot of stars out tonight.”

“Oh, I do hope it hasn’t clouded over.” The Doctor closed his study door behind them, seeming to hesitate a little as he did so, as if having second thoughts about the prospect of a walk. He kept up strangled sort of quiet until they reached the console room. “Jamie, there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you...”


End file.
